The Four Horsemen
by Bubblepanda07
Summary: It's life as usual for the four horsemen—Dean, Sam, Castiel, and Crowley—along with their reaper companions and the rest of their little office. That is, until something disrupts the cycle and they find themselves tethered. Destiel & Sabriel
1. Chapter 1

Summary: It's life as usual for the four horsemen—Dean, Sam, Castiel, and Crowley—along with their reaper companions and the rest of their little office. That is, until something disrupts the cycle and they find themselves tethered.

Author's note: I got the idea for this while thinking about the horsemen, and I couldn't hold off writing any longer! Just needed a little break from Rise From the Ashes while I brainstorm about it some more. ;P This is probably just going to be a short little ficlet.

Ch. 1

Before humans, God created four immensely powerful beings whose purpose was to spread his wrath when his creations ran rampant. These beings have been named as the four horsemen of the apocalypse; Pestilence, Famine, War, and Death. In the beginning, they were tethered to God's control, now they are constants in the modern world since he has disappeared. Though by no doing of their own—no—they just come and claim the souls after the humans make their messes.

To humans they were known by their formal names, but to one another and their respective reapers they were known as Sam, Castiel, Crowley, and Dean. Each of the four horsemen had their own accoutrements along with a reaper companion. One item that they all shared alike was a ring, the other was their weapon of choice.

Sam was Famine and was known for his dagger. A special dagger, of course, one with an inscribed, jagged blade. One would have expected Sam to be a shrunken figure due to his namesake, but he was the tallest of the horsemen and broad shouldered. He had brown hair and hazel eyes. Physically, none of the horsemen had any telling features, but each had their own tick that corresponded to their ailment. For Sam, he was constantly comparing himself to his three brothers and hungering to be remotely as powerful as they were. He felt weak in comparison to the three juggernauts.

His reaper companion was named Gabriel. Gabriel was a sandy blonde with a sweet tooth, a smart mouth, and striking amber eyes. He was neither tall nor short, but often looked sleight of height due to standing beside his horseman—whom he affectionately called moose on occasion, along with a variety of other nicknames.

Castiel was Pestilence and his weapon was a sword of pure silver that shone fiercely when hit by light. He had dark brown hair and the most incredible blue eyes that seemed to stare right through you. His vice was that he felt as if those around him crumpled wherever he went, as if he were the plague. Which as such, he was.

The reaper that assisted him was named Anna. She was a redhead who was very much her own person and wasn't afraid to tell Castiel when he was wrong.

Representing War was Crowley, the daringest devil anyone could meet who was known for his sass, inappropriate comments, and a temper that occasionally got away from him. Crowley's weapon was a little different in that it was an animal opposed to an object. It was a hellhound named Growley that he often referred to as a dog of war, giving an ode to Shakespeare. His notable attributes were black hair, brown eyes, and a British accent. Markedly, it was probably his ability to hold a grudge and his temper that made him well suited for War.

His reaper went by the name of Balthazar and was probably the only being on Earth that could rival his sass, which made them a perfect duo. The reaper was blonde, blue-eyed, smarmy, and moved in a smooth, relaxed manner, much like that of a cat.

The last of the horsemen was Dean, also known as Death, the most notorious of the four. His weapon was a colt, more specifically, _the _colt. The colt was a gun that was created by Samuel Colt and could kill anything, apart from six individuals—Lucifer, the horsemen, and God. Dean had brown hair, and green eyes that could have belonged to a Disney princess. The weight that sat heavy on his shoulders was that he felt people around him died whether he willed it or not, so he had stopped making friends a lot time ago and kept to the company of his fellow horsemen and reapers.

Charlie was the name of his reaper. She was very up to date on pop culture and her idol was Hermione from Harry Potter. She also would not be seen without her tablet. She was a fiery redhead and would rise to any challenge that came up, which made her the ideal companion for Death.

For the most part, the horsemen got along remarkably well. However, if there was trouble to be had, it was usually with Crowley as he was the most morally ambiguous of the four. Generally it was just Dean that really had a problem with him. The perverted and scathing remarks easily got under his skin, so any chance he had to hold something over his head, he gladly took.

There was currently a war waging in a small, non-descript country, and Crowley was hanging around while the body count racked up. He stood atop a small building, looking down as the people shot at one another without mercy. Humans truly were brutal creatures and it entertained him to watch them.

"So, Bobby tells us there's a storm rolling in." Dean said from where he and Sam appeared adjacent to Crowley on the rooftop. Essentially, the horsemen and the reapers had a business to keep things orderly and Bobby was their secretary, so to speak. He always had all the information coming in, whether it be from the news on tv, to information that Ash brought in through the network. "Looks like this one's ours." Dean smirked, though the expression melted off his face at the withering look Sam shot him.

Crowley sighed and clapped his hands with a dry expression, "Cookie for you." He ignored the enthusiastic 'Cookie?' that came from famine's reaper.

"Like it or not, we're in and you're out."

"By whose orders?"

"Cain's. You don't like it, you can take it up with him."

To say that Cain was their manager wasn't quite right, but it wasn't exactly wrong, either. Cain was nicknamed the father of murder, when push came to shove, he guided the boys on who should get which souls. His own life had been rather tragic. He was indeed the same Cain of the story of Cain and Abel. But the humans had it wrong when they wrote that one down. Truth of the matter was, Cain gave his soul in Hell to send his brother to Heaven when Lucifer had been knocking on his door. It was by request from his dearly departed—another sad story for another time—that he began working with the horsemen to try and atone for the wrongs he had done.

Crowley hummed, not being one to argue with that. If he were honest with himself, which he rarely was, he was a bit afraid of Cain. Anyone in their right mind would be. Polite as he may be, he still carried the mark on his arm.

"Have fun, boys." Crowley snapped his fingers and disappeared, his reaper following suit.

Dean looked out over the carnage, storm clouds dark and foreboding in the distance. A flash of lightning illuminated the start of a funnel cloud twisting down from the sky. He felt a drop of rain land on his freckled cheek, warm wind blowing across his face. There was definitely that unmistakable charged feeling in the air that settled right before a fierce storm. This was going to be a good one.

Author's note: Almost forgot, based on my tumblr post here: post/73960499269/snakesandmischief-i-should-write-a-fanfic-where#notes

I hope you enjoy exploring this 'verse with me as much as I do writing it!


	2. Virus

Ch. 2

One thing that bothered Dean about the human's interpretation of him, was that he did not, in fact, ride a pale horse. He rode in a sleek, black '67 Impala. That probably wouldn't have fit too well in the bible though. He loved taking his baby out on a long stretch of highway as Zepplin sounded from the speakers. What could he say, he was a sucker for classic rock.

Most of the time he was in too much of a hurry to actually drive the thing, but the morning was relatively peaceful and low on the death count, so he drove to the office. He parked between the familiar sangria-red Aston Martin and beige Cadillac. Just as Dean and Charlie were getting out, Sam and Gabriel pulled up in his sky blue Mercury Cougar, parking on the other side of Cas' Caddie. With license plates of 'WAR KING', 'BUH BYE', 'BLESS U', and 'EAT ME', no one could accuse them of not having a sense of humor…however morbid it may be.

"Hey Sam."

"Morning Dean." Sam said as he got out of his car, stretching his long legs when he was fully upright, shaking his leg to adjust the fabric that had bunched up during the drive. Gabriel opened his door and shut it, leaning against the roof of the car and groaning. For a normally chipper person, he was not a morning person.

"Hey sunshine." Dean said, grinning as he teased the blonde.

"Get bent, Rapunzel." He stepped back from the car and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Let's go, bitches. It's like five degrees and Ash texted me and said he brought donuts."

"Ohh." Gabriel perked up. "Last one there's an angry panda!"

The quartet walked into the building, the glass doors sealing shut behind them. Dean raised his hand in greeting to Bobby at his desk.

"Idgits." He mumbled in recognition.

Ash leaned out around a door frame when he heard them come in. "We got donuts, compadres!"

Walking in, Dean spotted Crowley, Balthazar, and Castiel sitting at the table, Anna standing at the counter—stirring her coffee. Crowley and Balthazar cradled their lattes bought from the expensive coffee place around the corner, too picky to drink the stuff made at the office.

Dean spotted the box of assorted donuts and grabbed one, picking up a napkin in his other hand. He took a big bite of the jelly-filled donut and a large gob of the filling fell on his pristine white shirt that he wore under his black suit jacket. Everyone else was too preoccupied to notice, except for Sam who was smiling into his drink.

"_Man._" He snapped his fingers and cleaned the offending stain away. Looking up at Sam, still chewing a large mouthful of donut—right cheek bulging out like a squirrels—he pointed and said, "You didn't see shit!"

"Hey, your five year old table manners are safe with me." Sam put his hands up in a placating gesture. He took another sip of his drink, some green concoction that probably tasted like grass. '_No wonder he's always so hungry. Dude needs a burger or something'_, Dean thought to himself, not for the first time that century.

"His table manners aren't a secret from anyone."

"Cram it in your cakehole, Crowley."

"Says the squirrel."

Dean sat down next to Castiel and they acknowledged each other with their usual staring that always lasted a shade too long. Crowley rolled his eyes as he took a bite of his cream-cheese covered bagel. The fools had been making cow eyes at each other for millennia and had yet to profess their feelings for each other. If only everyone could be like he and Balthazar had been. A simple 'I like you, you like me, let's do lunch and the horizontal tango'. But instead the pair was too busy pining and making everyone uncomfortable with their eye-banging.

Dean broke eye contact when he felt something near his foot. He looked down as a string of drool fell out of the air and onto his slick, shiny shoe. '_Freakin' dog._', he thought to himself. He had tried convincing Cain to make Crowley's dog sit outside, but leaving a horseman's 'weapon' unguarded didn't sit well with him. He toed the air to push the invisible dog away from him and it made a deep, throaty noise as it was being slid across the tiles.

Crowley decided it was time to go to his office when Gabriel took a bite of a donut and made a sound bordering on inappropriate. He stood up and flipped his chair back around and pushed it in to the table, the sounds of paws pattering on the floor following him as he left.

"Did you see the new episode of Sherlock last night?!" Charlie chirped to Anna.

"Of course! I can't believe how it ended."

Almost every morning the two redheads would unite on the geek front and gossip together. Dean asked her once why she never asked Anna out, and she called him a hypocrite. He had no idea what she meant by that.

"Man, we got some kind of weird shit going on." Ash said, making a face at his laptop that he carried into the break room with him.

"Sure it's not your system?" Charlie asked him.

"Lady, you know there's never anything wrong with my stuff. But look at this."

Charlie walked over along with everyone else, Sam standing at the back and looking over everyone's heads.

"What are we looking at?"

"Okay, here we have this little town of people. Well, yesterday they were perfectly fine. No signs of the big four. Overnight something must have hit them because they went from nada to full blown quarantine. We have Pestilence and Death marked all over. Which okay, some super bug just tore through there, right? No big deal. But about ten minutes ago-" Ash hit a button and the map changed, void of any marks. "-completely clear. Like the people just up and disappeared."

"What do you mean, disappeared? People don't just disappear, Ash." Dean said, putting his hands on his hips and gesturing with one hand.

"We actually have one other case of this happening. You remember the lost colony business that happened in Roanoke?"

"Yeah uh-" Sam snapped his fingers as he trudged up the memory, "the colony that just vanished, only leaving behind the word Croatoan."

The word left a cold chill in the room, prickling uneasily beneath their skin. The Croatoan virus wasn't anything to bat an eye at. Whatever this was couldn't be good.

"Did you tell Cain yet?"

"I just patched it through to him. I really don't like the way this is lookin."

Dean had an uneasy feeling in his gut that something big, and something nasty, was coming. There were very few things that could make Death feel that way, and Dean wasn't looking forward to any of them.

Author's note: I had to do research on cars for this chapter. _; Also, the car that Sam is driving—as far as I could tell—is the same one he drove in 9x12. :


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: Thanks for reading, lovelies~ :3

Ch. 3

Dean and Cas sat on a wooden bench across from a hospital where a particularly vile case of the flu had broken out, waiting while Charlie and Anna helped those inflicted pass over to the other side.

"So what do you think we should do?" Dean asked Cas.

"You heard what Cain said, and you know what our policy is." He said, sighing heavily.

"Yeah yeah, I know. We can't interfere with anything on earth unless it's interfering with us first." That had been the horsemen's policy since they had been created. If they started messing with things, then it would disrupt the balance. "But what if something does and it's worse than we think?"

The corner of Cas' mouth quirked up slightly. "Are you asking me for my advice? Because you and I both know you won't actually take it." He slid his blue eyes over to the other horseman.

"Hey, I-" Dean started, trailing off and rubbing his neck, a blush creeping up his freckled cheeks when Cas' look became skeptical. "Okay, so I usually do what I want to do anyways, but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate your input."

Dean had always followed the rules well enough, being the most powerful of the horsemen, he had a responsibility after all. Though he had also been the only one to go against orders, albeit only once. That was the first time he had truly been afraid of Cain. He wasn't sure if even he could take him on, what with the Mark. Anything with even a modicum of supernatural awareness could sense the powerhouse behind it. So Dean tried not to step outside the lines, lest he felt like being turned inside out. He liked his insides where they belonged, thank you very much.

"-and I can see how much you value my opinion, as I'm sure you've been listening this whole time." Cas said, amusement tinting his tone.

"Huh?" Had he been talking while he had been caught in his reverie? "Shit, I'm sorry Cas. What were you saying?"

"_I said _I think it's probably best that we don't look for trouble for now, and wait to see what happens. It could very well just be a demon running rampant."

Dean perked up as Charlie exited the hospital. She was moving at a hurried pace and looked distraught.

"Everything alright?"

"No, no it isn't. I was in there trying to help someone move on and a demon jacked their body. Not long after that I got a message from Anna saying the same thing happened to her. It's like they're popping up everywhere. This is _so_ not cool!" She said, gesturing wildly and slightly out of breath.

Anna popped up next to them, looking grim. "We got what we could, but the rest have been possessed."

"What the hell?" Dean pondered aloud.

"Precisely."

They all turned to see Crowley walking up to them, hands in his pockets.

"Pardon?"

"Hell. More specifically, Lilith."

"_Lilith_? As in the first demon?"

"One and only. Problem is, we don't know why she's showing up now all of a sudden, though I'm sure it's not for a moonlit stroll on the beach."

"What we _do _know is that she's amassing a horde of demons." Balthazar spoke up from where he stood, ever present at his horseman's side.

"Well, aint that just peachy." Dean grouched.

The demons started exiting the hospitals and one of them spotted Dean, fear flashing across his face. Dean smirked, raised his hand and waggled his fingers in a wave, watching the demon scramble away down the sidewalk. More demons spotted them after that and Crowley blew one of them a kiss, grinning wickedly when they reeled back in shock. Messing with demons was one of Crowley's hobbies. Balthazar once told him it was probably because he would have made such a good one himself. Crowley had to agree that if he didn't have a soul, that would probably be true. Maybe in another life he would have been.

It was barely a day later that Dean got the first hint of the size of what they were dealing with. He had been doing business as usual, picking his way through a plane crash site.

"I knew I shouldn't have got on that plane! I've always been terrified of them." The ghost of a middle-aged man in front of them said.

"Actually, they rarely crash." Charlie gave him a look that told him very clearly that he was _not _helping. He coughed awkwardly. This was why he usually left this part up to her. He wasn't good with dealing with people's feelings. "I'll uh, be over here." Dean motioned over to his right.

He was poking around the wreckage when he felt it. He didn't always feel every death when it happened, human souls usually didn't register unless they were in mass. He would pick up on supernatural creatures when they passed sometimes, the slick pull of their energies leaving their bodies would pass over him as they died. But this-this thing, whatever it was, burst and prickled at his senses like a lighthouse beacon on a foggy night it called out to him. Dean called out to Charlie, telling her that he was going to go check it out.

Teleporting to where the sensation was, he was greeted with a massive bright orb of celestial light, blue tendrils engulfed in a golden light. With a bright pulse, the thing disappeared, wiped out of existence. Once it departed, he spotted a body on the ground and felt his heart stutter. Of all the things he expected, this didn't even register as a possibility. Stretched out on either side of the body was the shape of wings, burnt into the pavement. The word '_angel_' flitted through his mind, repeating itself like an echo. He dropped down on a knee next to the body, fingers tracing the burnt pattern, still in disbelief. Demons were one thing, but angels walking the earth was something else entirely.

Author's note: I couldn't help but put the bit about Crowley being a demon in another life. ;P


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Forgive me for taking so long to update! I normally don't but I pulled a muscle in my back because I'm magical. Also accidentally updated Rise From the Ashes back to back. :x Anyways! here we go~

Ch. 4

"Charlie," Dean sighed, grabbing Charlie's wrist and pulling her hand away from his forehead, "I'm Death, I don't get sick. Well, apart from that time I pissed off Cas."

_That _had been an experience. It was just a simple argument, really. Granted it was one that had started with the common cold, and had escalated to…the black plague. Cas had been very sorry about the whole ordeal, and Dean promised to never talk bad about himself around him again.

"Yeah, but angels, Dean? I mean come on. We _are_ talking about the same beings, right? Lights with flappy wings and halos?"

"Do you know of any other angels?"

"Charlie's angels?"

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't Farrah Fawcett I saw out there."

Charlie took in a breath and exhaled, shoulders sagging and arms hanging limply.

"I guess we should tell Cain."

"Not that we're going to do anything about it."

"Still, we have to keep him updated." Charlie reeled back as a tractor trailer crashed into a car, overturning and causing a pileup, the sound of metal crunching on metal sounding in the air. Looking across the intersection, she waved in greeting at one of the fates standing on the other side. In a second, the blonde woman with glasses was standing next to them, her clipboard clasped tightly in her hands.

"Charlie, Dean." She said, nodding her head slightly at each of them.

"How goes things?"

"Business as usual." She answered curtly.

"Nothing particularly strange?" Charlie asked, attempting to be sly but failing miserably. Subtlety was not her style. There were probably air horns that were more subtle than Charlie was.

The fate cocked her head and smirked, "You know I can't tell you anything. Though I'm assuming you're asking because of the new visitors we've had on our planet recently?" She rocked back on her heels, "But no, no spoilers. Nice try though, Charlie." With that, the fate vanished.

"At least she's nicer than her sisters." The other fates probably would have broken out their best disappointed mom face had Charlie asked them that question. Lives hanging in the balance were generally considered serious business.

Dean looked at Charlie's tablet with a raised eyebrow as it gave a series of melodic beeps. Startling slightly, the reaper tapped something out and a window popped up to reveal Ash's face.

"Yooo, we got a problem."

"Tell me something I don't know." Dean said over Charlie's shoulder.

"Need you to come in, having a meeting in the grand puba's office."

"Sure thing. Charlie needs to clean things up here first though."

"No problemo. Peace."

Closing the window on her tablet, Charlie started towards the crash and the ghosts already mulling around. "I'll try and hurry."

Dean smiled tightly and waved before popping into Cain's office.

He noticed two things when he arrived. One: the plant in the corner looked like it was dying, Two: Crowley looked like he was about to flip out.

"Ash said there was a problem?"

Cain's face was tight and he gave a nod in Crowley's direction, signaling him to speak.

"You know how demons were going for a joy ride with the humans the other day? They weren't the only ones, now we have angels taking a lovely little jaunt down here too."

"I already figured that out, I ran into one earlier."

"No, I don't think you have any idea. They're at bloody war with each other!" The horseman shouted, infamous temper making a guest appearance. There were already three instances just that day where the oversized folds of light had been having a go. If it weren't for the human souls of their vessels, Crowley would have avoided them altogether since angels didn't appear to require a reaper to crossover. They even made his poor dog uneasy, who chose to hide and growl at the lights from behind him.

"Wait." Sam said, scooting up on the edge of his seat, "They're fighting demons, or other angels?"

"Both." Balthazar said, pinching the bridge of his nose. Gabriel let out a low whistle, marveling at the gravity of that remark.

As everyone conversed on what it could mean, Dean felt his consciousness being drawn elsewhere, their voices becoming muffled noises in the background. As he could feel death, he could also feel life, ultimately every soul tied to him in the end. He could feel souls entering this plane, which were normally bright sensations, but these were twisted portrayals of what souls should be. They were dark with rough, frayed edges, angry and vengeful. The decayed souls wanted for nothing but to punish humans that had let them down. They were, Dean realized, souls of those that had already moved on but been forced back to inhabit earth. Even more concerting, underlying that, was the feeling of something ancient and unworldly shattering apart.

Dean's attention was pulled back to the office, that now seemed much too small and quiet. The other horsemen looked stricken, reapers concerned why they had suddenly stilled.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked.

"One of the seals has been broken." Cas said, blue eyes wide with surprise.

"Seals? To what?"

"Lucifer's cage." Sam said, tongue sticking dryly to the roof of his mouth, fingers threading nervously through his hair.

They all stood there in silence, unsure of what was happening.

Unfortunately, this was the time that Charlie arrived.

"Hey guys! So what'd I miss?" She said, smile immediately falling when she grasped what she had walked into. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she trudged on, "That bad?"

"Nah, just the freakin' apocalypse." Dean said.

"This is a joke, right? Charlie's late because some guy at the wreck was code blue and couldn't make up his mind, so we make up a big story…right?" The looks on everyone's faces told her that no, they were not, in fact, joking. "I need to sit down."

Author's note: Can I do a proper Lucifer voice? We'll find out…eventually. XD


End file.
